﻿Behind The Scenes Of The Great Kanto Earthquake: The Real Significance Of The Kanto Earthquake And What We Need To Learn From It

On the 1st of every September, the country of Japan celebrates the Disaster Prevention Day, a day of safety measures and drills, commemorating the great earthquake that struck the Kanto region of the country on the same date back in 1923. The damage to property and lives caused by the earthquake singles it out as one of the most­ destructive events in the history of Japan. We have all read personal accounts of survivors and government reports about the incident, the aftermath and the relief efforts but few of us have a clear idea as to the kind of society Japan was before the earthquake, where the real significance of this disaster lies and how those changes are reflected in the modern day Japanese society today. This article intends to develop a sense of understanding as to how the earthquake changed the thought process in Japan, revealed insights into the Japanese society, presented a remarkable opportunity to rebuild and by drawing parallels with the Tohoku earthquake of March 2011, serves to inform the readers how we need to learn from our mistakes. Japan in the 1920s was a country on its way towards modernization. The gap between the poor and the elite classes had risen considerably with the latter class having a highly luxurious lifestyle. The city of Tokyo had seen its population almost double in a short span of time and the living conditions of the people who inhabited the outskirts of the capital city were quite poor. Hence the timing of the earthquake meant that it was pivotal in bringing about these social problems of inequality and urbanization to the surface. The tremor was of a massive magnitude of 7.9 but it was the resulting fires from the earthquake that killed the majority. The Hanjo clothing depot, where the memorial hall for the victims of this tragedy lies today, was engulfed in a firestorm which took the lives of about 35000 people. Roads, houses and bridges broke down which coupled with the resulting panic made evacuation extremely difficult. Breakages in water supply meant a delay in the process of taking down the fires. Kawatake Shigetoshi, one of the survivors of the earthquake from Honjo, gave an account of the scenario in words such as ‘Nobody knew where to go’, and ‘the whole area was a blazing inferno’. The tensions between the Japanese and the Koreans inhabiting the Kanto region also reached their peak in the aftermath of the disaster when the Koreans were blamed of further killing the Japanese by actions such as poisoning wells. The death toll from the sequence of events which continued for the next three to four days surpassed the figure of a hundred thousand people. A picture showing a scene from Tokyo after the earthquake

A brief understanding of the damage caused by the earthquake would lead to the agreement that the Japanese society in the 1920’s was quite ill prepared for an earthquake of such a magnitude. The vulnerabilities that existed in the society had made this hazard into a deadly natural disaster. Only a few years before the earthquake struck, Goto Shinpei, then mayor of Tokyo, had devised a plan to restructure the city only to see it get rejected by the parliament. The opposition to this plan wanted money to be spent on social welfare rather than on the already gleaming capital city of Tokyo. If that plan had been accepted and implemented, the Kanto Earthquake would have definitely not caused the damage it did. However after the earthquake, measures to restructure Tokyo to make it more earthquake resistant became necessary and plans were drawn up immediately by the authorities. Another equally important direct result or conclusion from the disaster was the perception of it as a punishment sent by the heavens for the extravagant and luxurious lifestyle that Japan enjoyed and a sign to alter the direction it was moving in. This belief was...

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...A. Hook: Japan was hit by the most powerful earthquake in recorded history on March 11, 2011.
B. The center of the nine-magnitude earthquake was near the east coast of Japan,
C. Thesis statement: The Earthquake in Japan, besides being a disaster, also caused other disasters, such as a tsunami and nuclear leaks.
II. Body:
A. Earthquake
B. Tsunami
1. The horrifying earthquake caused a tsunami unleashed;
2. Cities or towns are covered by the water.
C. The Nuclear leak
1. Along with the destruction of the nuclear plants, the radiation has affected the whole global environmental system, and also caused a reaction of anti nuclear action around the world.
2. E.X,
D. The nuclear leakage threat to other countries
1. announcement not only shocked Japanese people, but also caused panic from people in the United States, China, and other countries.
2. E.X
E. The nuclear leak’s effects.
1. Less energy
2. Food and Water
3.City shut down
F. Reconstruction
1.Japan seeks foreign idea- to use green energy in rebuilding.
2.E.X.
III. Conclusion:
The Japanearthquake also gave us a warning. We are living in the United States, which has the most amount of nuclear power plants in the world....

...﻿Investigating Earthquakes – Japan
Gurjit & Ashwin
Preliminary questions:
a. Why do earthquakes happen in this location?
b. Does this location fall on any fault lines?
c. What are they doing to prepare themselves?
d. How often earthquakes happen in this location?
e. The last earthquake?
f. The strongest earthquake?
g. What are the hazards of earthquakes in this area?
h. How are the structures built in this area
Investigation:
i. Japan is located in an area where several continental and oceanic plates meet. This is the cause of frequent earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis.
j. Japan is located near the triple fault line between the Eurasian plate and the Pacific plate (the Japan Trench) and the Philippine plate (the Nankai trough).
k. The Japanese government has given specific emergency earthquake procedures that has been specifically planned according to events that have occurred in the past. The people of Japan have also been equipped with an emergency earthquake preparation kit per household.
l. Japan gets about 1000 earthquakes annually which also translates into 2 to 3 earthquakes per day. Even while knowing this fact, Japan still manages to attract many tourists with their colorful...

...COSTAAT
Was the JapanEarthquake Manmade?
Project submitted to
Ms. Karen Paul
SCIE 201 - Contemporary Issues in Science
BY
Rishard Khan
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake the strongest ever recorded struck the East coast of northern Japan. It Japan triggered a massive tsunami along the Pacific Coast of northeastern Japan. As a result over 20000 people were killed and the Fukushima Daichi nuclear reactor has been severely damaged so Low-levels of radiation have been emitted.
According to Michel Chossudovsky (27 September 2004) who stated:
”The High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) based in Gokona, Alaska, has been in existence since 1992. It is part of a new generation of sophisticated weaponry under the US Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Operated by the US Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate, HAARP constitutes a system of powerful antennas capable of creating "controlled local modifications of the ionosphere" upper layer of the atmosphere.” The US military claim that HAARP's main objective is to "exploit the ionosphere for Department of Defense purposes.
Dr. Gerard Fryer explanation of Japan’s earthquake:...

...Earthquake in Japan
On March 11, 2011, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded hit Japan's eastern coast. It killed hundreds of people as it made its way through the streets and fields, sweeping away boats, cars and homes. Its magnitude was 8.9, releasing a 23-foot tsunami and then provoking more than 50 aftershocks for hours. This horrific event resulted in the loss of thousands of lives and devastated entire towns.
The amount of damage caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunami was excessive, with most of the damage being caused by the tsunami. Thousands of families were left without electricity. Many nuclear and conventional power plants went offline after the earthquake. Cell phones and landline services suffered major disruptions so many people weren’t able to communicate with their relatives across the country. Japan's transportation was also affected. Expressways were damaged; cars and trucks were swept away by the tsunami and railway services cancelled.
The earthquake was caused by an uplift of the sea floor, where the Pacific tectonic plate slides beneath the plate Japan sits on. This motion pulls the upper plate down until the stress builds up enough to cause a seismic event. Tons of miles of crust ruptured along the area where the tectonic plates meet. Since the earthquake occurred at a very shallow depth, much of its energy was released...

...To begin with, earthquakes are big deals when they happen. They cause chaos and desolate family members. The earthquake happened in Japan, Fukushimi at 14:46 (local time) on march 11th, 2012. The magnitude of this earthquake was 8.9 and that’s high on the rictor scale. The earthquake was not the only thing Japan had confronted. According to CNN “the 8.9 – magnitude trembler, killed hundreds of people, it caused the formation of 30 – foot walls of water that dragged houses onto highway, engulfed entire towns, and tossed cars and boats like toys,” The tsunami had dragged the Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, damaging costal communities. The Japanearthquake had caused the tsunami, leaving massive destruction everywhere, which had a large impact on the death toll. The earthquake was the fifth largest in the world since 1900 (BBC)
It happened due to the 3 plates moving (Eurasian and Pacific), it receives earthquakes quite frequently. This specific earthquake was caused when the Eurasian plate is dragged down by the Pacific plate until the pressure is too great and the plate 'unzips'. This causes a massive displacement of the water at the epicentre sending large amounts of water thrusted towards land. While the plates settled back down again, over 1,000 aftershocks were caused, some happening weeks after the initial...

...K. E.
Geology 100
4/15/13
Japanearthquake
On March 11, 2011, Japan was hit by a magnitude 9.0 quake at about 2:50 pm. This would turn out to be the largest earthquake in the past thousands years to ever be recorded. What caused this massive destruction one might ask? This devastating quake was caused because Japan is located between two major tectonic plates. When a large number of plate movements occur, the Pacific Plate makes its way below a subduction zone. When plate movements are not gradual and continuous along the subductions zones, quakes then now occur. When the subduction zones begin to deform from the plate, stress begins to build up in the rocks. Once the stress level increases to its limit, the rocks rupture along the boundary of the plate.
Since the magnitude of the Japan quake was so large, a tsunami was created. This tsunami hit the mainland causing more destruction. The cause of this tsunami was due to the fact that the earthquake occurred 20 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Combined with the high magnitude, the tsunami affected not only Japan but also the coast of the United States; such as Hawaii, California, and Oregon. Reaching at about 33 feet high, the tsunami inundated the coast while flooding parts of Sendai. The Natori River, which separates Sendai from Natori was overflown from the...

...Earthquake in Japan
I- What is an EARTHQUAKE?
* An Earthquake is a sudden movement of the earth’s lithosphere caused by a sudden release of energy in the earth’s crust.
II- The Location of Japan.
* Located in the Pacific Ocean it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China,North Korea, South Korea and Russia. The Japanese archipelago is located in an area where several continental and oceanic plates meet.
III- The Earthquakes in Japan.
* The Great KantoEarthquake, the worst in Japanese history, hit the Kanto plain around Tokyo in 1923 and resulted in the deaths of over 100,000 people.
* In January 1995, a strong earthquake hit the city of Kobe resulted the death of 6,000 people.
* The Great East JapanEarthquake, the earthquake and particularly the ensuing tsunami killed nearly 20,000 people and caused a nuclear accident at a power plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
IV- Cause and Effect.
* Cause- Earthquakes can be by :
* Fault Movement
* Volcanism
* Induced Seismicity
In Japan’s case, the cause of the earthquake is Fault Movement. The Pacific Plate, a plate under the Pacific Ocean, moved under Japan. Earthquakes occurring under the ocean are...

...Current Events Assignment
Earthquake in Japan
On March 11, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck the northeastern coast of Japan, causing widespread and serious damage to infrastructure and to human life. A massive earthquake-triggered tsunami followed, washing away large parts of several coastal cities
The recent tragedy in Japan will affect the global food supply and might just be the event that triggers the reverse of our dependence on Asia for cheap foods. Americans might complain about the increase in food prices but will pay for the safety of their food supply. In a current quick poll on SupermarketGuru.com, 82 percent of those who have already taken the survey report that since the earthquake/tsunami in Japan they are concerned about the safety of foods coming from this part of the world. Three in four people surveyed are concerned about radioactivity, and 65 percent are concerned about general food safety issues. Over half the respondents say that as a result of the earthquake, foods imported from Asia will be more expensive; but only one out of four say there will be stricter standards for safety and more testing. On our Supermarket Guru fan page on Facebook, Kerry Stessel says, “We need new toxcicity labels on all imported food products.”
This past Monday, the government ordered Fukushima prefecture, the site of the troubled...